John Howard earns close win to cap off odd night of prelims at "UFC 101: Declaration"

PHILADELPHIA – The UFC’s first trip to Philadelphia offered a range of attractions and odd happenings on the evening’s preliminary card, including two split-decisions, a TKO that turned out to be caused by an accidental head butt, and a rematch of a controversial contest being shifted to swing-bout status.

Despite the odd occurrences, a raucous crowd packed the Wachovia Center early for “UFC 101: Declaration” and remained vocal throughout the evening’s opening bouts.

The main card of the pay-per-view event airs later tonight on pay-per-view.

Welterweight John Howard (12-4 MMA, 2-0 UFC) predicted his bout with Tamdan McCrory (11-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) would be the evening’s “Fight of the Night.” While there are plenty of superstars on the main card who may have a say in that later, the contest was certainly close until the final bell.

While both fighters promised a standup battle in the days leading up to the bout, the majority of the 15-minute affair took place on the ground. Each took turns in dominant positions throughout the opening two rounds, though neither appeared in trouble as the pair traded takedowns and transitioned through offensive positions.

Howard grabbed the momentum briefly in the third frame, earning a series of takedowns and controlling McCrory from side control and north-south position. McCrory swept and returned fire, keeping the action close, but Howard had done just enough to earn a razor-thin split-decision win.

Howard admitted after the decision that he had hoped to put on a better performance.

“It feels great to get the win, but I was a little disappointed with my performance,” Howard said. “My camp pushes me to be the best fighter I can be, and I want to be able to show that in the octagon.”

Howard also admitted he wasn’t sure until the scores were read whether or not he would walk away with the win.

“I wasn’t sure about the decision,” Howard said. “I knew I had him on the takedowns, but I get nervous about split decisions. I’m happy to get the win, though.”

The win moved Howard to 2-0 in the UFC, and “Doomsday” has now won five-straight overall bouts. McCrory has now alternated wins and losses in six-straight UFC bouts.

Sakara and Leites disappoint; Riddle outlasts Cramer

After an extremely disappointing showing in a middleweight title fight with Anderson Silva in his last outing, Thales Leites (14-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) needed a solid performance against striker Alessio Sakara (14-7 MMA, 5-4 UFC) to prove he still belonged in the UFC.

He didn’t get it.

Sakara and Leites earned the famous boos of the Philadelphia crowd in a bout that offered little in the way of highlights. Sakara landed a few forceful punches on occasion, and Leites worked his submission game for a brief period in the second frame. But there were more gaps than action, and the Wachovia Center crowd, as well as the referee, grew restless throughout.

After 15 painful minutes, the bout mercifully ended and Sakara was “awarded” a split-decision win.

After the win, Sakara addressed the criticism.

“I like to give a great show for my fans,” Sakara said. “I’m sorry to my fans that they weren’t happy, but my opponent is very tough. I have a lot of respect for Thales Leites.”

The Italian former boxer also said he hopes the UFC will match him up with another striker in the future.

“I want to one day fight a stand-up guy so we can put on a great fight for the fans,” Sakara said.

Sakara has now won two-straight bouts, while Leites may be on his way out of the UFC following his second-consecutive poor performance.

In a battle of relatively inexperienced welterweights, crowd-favorite Matt Riddle (3-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) found himself in early trouble, as Dan Cramer (1-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) held on to a tight guillotine for nearly a half-minute. It would be the last time the 23 year old would be forced to worry.

Working mainly from the canvas, Riddle kept pressure on Cramer for the remaining two rounds with a series of ground-and-pound blows and dominant positioning. Cramer battled gamely, but when the final bell sounded, the result was evident – both from watching the action and by witnessing the blood streaming from Cramer’s face. Riddle was awarded the unanimous decision, though all three judges offered a different score for the bout.

After the victory, Riddle admitted he was impressed with Cramer’s toughness.

“Cramer is a tough guy,” Riddle said. “It didn’t matter how many elbows I hit him with. I knew he’d never give up.”

Riddle remains undefeated in his young career, all three wins coming for the UFC. Cramer has now split his first two bouts. Neither fighter has competed for less than the full 15 minutes in their UFC careers.

Lightweight George Sotiropoulos (10-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) was originally scheduled to face Rob Emerson, but an injury left the Australian instead facing training partner George Roop (9-5 MMA, 1-2 UFC). While Roop was courageous in taking the fight on short notice, he was simply overmatched once the opening bell rang.

Sotiropoulos took his opponent down with ease in the first period, looking for multiple submissions attempts as Roop looked to escape. Sotiropoulos was unable to secure the fight-ending move he sought in the opening five minutes, but that quickly changed in the second frame.

Sotiropoulos weathered an early flurry from Roop before taking his opponent to the floor. Sotiropoulos used punches to distract his opponent as he meticulously moved to better position, eventually locking in a kimura that forced a quick tap from Roop at 1:59 of the round.

The bout was Sotiropoulos’ first in 18 months, but after the bout he insisted the layoff was not detrimental.

“There’s no such thing as ring rust if you’re sharpening your tools every day,” Sotiropoulos said. “I know I was better than him on the ground.

“He was strong in the first round, but he started to show signs of wear and tear. He was good at defending his arms, but he spent a lot of energy defending it.”

Sotiropoulos is now 3-0 in the UFC following his run on “The Ultimate Fighter 6.” Roop drops to 1-2 on the organization with the loss.

The evening’s first contest appeared to be heading toward a nail-biting finish, but instead finished as a bit of a head-scratcher.

After spending the majority of the first two rounds trading blows on the feet, welterweights Jesse Lennox (11-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Danillo Villefort (9-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) appeared to be dead-even on the scorecards heading into the final frame. Both fighters appeared a bit winded entering the final five minutes, but each was up to the challenge.

After eating a few punches, Villefort looked for a takedown, winding up underneath his opponent, but then quickly locking in an armbar. Villefort torqued the hold, then adjusted his grip and tried again when the initial move was defended. Lennox escaped again and returned to his feet, but Villefort was slow to rise.

Upon inspection, Villefort had suffered a cut directly over his eye, and ringside doctors quickly halted the action. Replays showed that the cut was caused by an accidental head butt as Villefort tried to extend his opponent’s arm, but the match referee did not see the blow and Lennox was awarded a controversial TKO win.

Following the win, Lennox admitted the stoppage was unfortunate.

“It’s disappointing,” Lennox said. “I’ve been cut a lot worse than that and kept going. I would’ve been upset if I were him.”

Lennox also said he was happy with the submission defense that eventually led to the win.

“The armbar was close,” Lennox said. “But I feel I’ve been doing a better job of being technical instead of being a meathead when it comes to my escapes.”

While each fighter was fighting in the UFC for the first time. Lennox has now won four-straight bouts overall. The loss snapped a five-fight winning streak for Villefort, but the strange ending to the contest will undoubtedly earn the Brazilian a return trip to the octagon.

A lightweight rematch between Shane Nelson and Aaron Riley was switched to swing-bout status due to time constraints.

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